All The Way

All The Way My Saviour Leads Me
(Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”)

“All the way my Savior leads me,
“What have I to ask beside?
“Can I doubt His tender mercy,
“Who through life has been my Guide?
“Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
“Here by faith in Him to dwell!
“For I know, whate’er befall me,
“Jesus doeth all things well;
“For I know, whate’er befall me,
“Jesus doeth all things well.”
(“All The Way My Saviour Leads Me” by Fanny Crosby)

When the way is easy, decked with all manner of beautiful discoveries…When my feet have the sensation of soft grasses beneath them and it is well with my soul…It is easy to feel the Saviour’s presence.

When the panorama is breathtaking, and nothing obstructs my view… When I am on the mount of transfiguration and see and feel and know the Son of Light’s glory…It is as natural as breathing to savor the magnificence and know that only He could have led me to such a place.

When my cupboards are full of provision, my every need and want is satisfied…When there are no clouds on the horizon, no dread of evil building in my chest…I have no doubt that He is with me – blessing and protecting me.

When I am successful in the work of my hands and I can see the fruit abounding… When I get to enjoy the gift of God and partake in the reward of my labor…It takes no surrender or soul-searching to know that God is with me and leading me in the way that I should go.

When I feel good, and life is full of possibilities and brimming with excitement… When I see the desires of my heart unfold and the petition of my lips has been granted…It seems that no matter what direction I turn, Christ is there.

But so many times in life are not those times.

There are the valleys of grief, where life has changed from color to a drab gray that gives no joy.  Where we wake each morning, and face the sorrow of a love that has been taken from us for the rest of our earthly sojourn.  Loss touches us in many forms with its sickening grasp whether it is a person, a dream, a hope, an expectation, or a reversal of some kind.  It wraps its heavy weight around our hearts and strangles the song from it as it relentlessly reminds us of all that will never be the same again.  The grief of opportunities, time, people, pleasures…life as we dreamed it would be or life as it once was…that haunts our thoughts and keeps the tears of “hope deferred” beneath the surface.

There are the waves of fear (nay, terror at times!), when our security – or what we love best – is threatened.  It might be our health and our ability to be comfortable and safe within our own bodies.  It might be our financial security or the well-being of our country or loved ones.  Whatever stokes its fury, fear is a powerful reality.  The hopelessness that it invokes can be crippling as it reminds us that we are not masters of our own life – that there are choices we can make but there are many things we cannot control.

There is the pain of suffering – of necessities and deprivations and wants and afflictions that cause us to suffer.  Those places that make our life to stand still while those around us keep on living.

There are times we will visit where it seems that the promises of the Scripture’s mock us, and the desire we have to feel loved and secure eludes us.  There are places that by nature appear God-forsaken, and our heart trembles to enter them.

Yet the truth is, that all the way my Saviour leads me.  He has promised to never leave or forsake me.  Christ has not spoken this glibly to make me feel good.  He did not say it to make some poetic verse or beautiful sonnet.  He has committed Himself to us, and refuses to absolve Himself of the pain it will inflict on His heart to go with us through those difficult places.  He already bore our sins – and carried our sorrows.  He has paid heavily for the chastisement of our peace.  He has done all already to ensure that we will not only survive the passage of fire and water, but that we will not be alone.

And so, by faith, we see Him.  Christ, walking on the water during a storm that looks like it will surely leave no survivors.  The Good Shepherd, comforting us through the valley filled with despair and death, reminding us of His continual presence with His rod and His staff.  Our Jehovah-Jireh (The God Who provides), spreading a table for us of nourishment and blessing right in the place where our enemies hoped to destroy us.  The Son of God, in the midst of the fire that Satan hoped to silence us forever with – and with His presence, He transforms its fury into nothing more than a means to burn the ropes that would bind us.  When the flood comes rushing in, and it seems that all is impossibly lost, it is nothing more than a sacred tryst with the King of Kings Himself, and we will hear His sweet voice as He assures us that it will not go over our heads.

Come close dear heart and know this – that we need not fear the dark and scary places of life – that the circumstances which would rend the sweetness of life from our grasp are the very places Christ wishes to meet with us and pour out His abundant grace.  When we find ourselves without a song, without a hope, without a future – look up – for truly, there He is.  

All the way…Through the day and through the night, through the blessings and the sorrows, in abundance and in want, in love and in rejection, whether it is a time of peace or war, whether it is a place of healing or of pain… our

Saviour is leading each step of the way and will not suffer our foot to be moved.

And if I have Christ, what have I to ask besides?

“All the way my Savior leads me,
“Cheers each winding path I tread,
“Gives me grace for every trial,
“Feeds me with the living Bread.
“Though my weary steps may falter
“And my soul athirst may be,
“Gushing from the Rock before me,
“Lo! A spring of joy I see;
“Gushing from the Rock before me,
“Lo! A spring of joy I see.

“All the way my Savior leads me,
“Oh, the fullness of His love!
“Perfect rest to me is promised
“In my Father’s house above.
“When my spirit, clothed immortal,
“Wings its flight to realms of day
“This my song through endless ages:
“Jesus led me all the way;
“This my song through endless ages:
“Jesus led me all the way.”